"Django Unchained" Review: Mr. Tarantino--You Had My Curiosity. Now You Have My Attention!

God bless Quentin Tarantino. Now this, ladies and gentleman, is a director that's going to do whatever he wants to do, and does not give a crap what other people think every time. And because of that, the state of cinema is much better for it. 

As a hardcore Tarantino-fan, I feel a bit biased reviewing this one, simply because I figured I would like it anyway. But I honestly did not expect to love it as much as I did. Nevertheless, as bias probably comes into the picture, take my opinion here with a grain of salt.

"Django," much like "Inglorious Basterds" and "Kill Bill" is a revenge movie. As a revenge movie, it's a bit of a cross between the gritty tone of "Basterds" and the cartoon-like nature of "Kill Bill."The basic premise is simple: a slave named Django (Jaime Foxx) is recruited by a German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) to find a gang called the Brittle Brothers, who only Django has personally seen. Once they've killed the Brittle Brothers in a relatively short span of time, Schultz decides (being personally responsible for Django's freedom and feeling a strong opposition to the principles of slavery in general) to help Django rescue his wife from the clutches of nefarious plantation owner Calvin J. Candie (Leo DiCaprio).

The movie belongs to Waltz and DiCaprio. Both are incredibly charming, particularly Waltz, who acts a bit like Django's Obi Wan Kenobi. His earnest nature, and his affection for Django is something admirable in the film. Not to mention that watching how skilled he is as a bounty hunter is pure fun. It's really hard not to root for him, especially as his is the dominant voice of the White abolitionist in the film. Nevertheless the fact that he basically goes after and murders criminals still puts him in enough of a morally grey area, so he does not come off as a complete saint. On the "evil" side, DiCaprio does a magnificent job as the primary antagonist of the film, veering between charming, and completely bat-crap crazy and menacing (particularly during the climactic skull cracking scene). Jamie Foxx is, sadly, the weakest of the leads. That's not to say he isn't good, he's very good, he just loses his luster in the presence of such fantastic actors, like DiCaprio and Waltz. Foxx gets his moment to really shine in the last third of the movie, where his actual revenge is being conducted. But of course by then, Waltz and DiCaprio are out of the picture. Nevertheless, as far as gun-fu is concerned, Foxx's scenes are arguably the coolest, best-choreographed gun-fu scenes in cinema since Rodriguez's "Desperado" way back in 1995. So of course, given the fun action set pieces, you'll be rooting for Django every step of the way. On the supporting front, Kerry Washington plays our resident damsel in distress, which is a bit lacking in terms of character development, overall. But hey, at least she took the initiative to learn German for the role, so props to her on that. We also have a magnificently devilish turn from Samuel L. Jackson, who's role embodies the worst case scenario in a film like this: an African American servant who promotes and condones slavery because he, himself is not a slave, and is a friend and ever loyal ass-kisser to DiCaprio's Calvin Candie. This is no Nick Fury role, I assure you. We also have some fun scenes with Don Johnson and Jonah Hill as a pair of goofy KKK members (yes, ridiculous as that sounds, it actually works in the movie, trust me), and Tarantino himself has a fun little Looney Tunes-esque cameo sort of scene involving dynamite. 

One of the best things about Django is that it's actually a really funny movie. The humor is trademark offbeat dark/racist Tarantino, but there's a lot more of it in this film than a film like "Basterds." Nevertheless, I found myself cracking up out loud at various scenes. In fact, I had the pleasure of seeing the movie at the Tarantino-owned New Beverly. So prior to the film, we were treated to vintage trailers of spaghetti westerns, gladiator grindhouse films, and blaxploitation films, and even an off color Looney Tunes short about Southerners. And while watching the film, it made sense why--there are scenes that approach the realm of Looney Tunes cartoonishness that surprisingly just work in marvelously hilarious ways. But I assure you, as you'd expect from any film about slavery, or any film written by Tarantino, this is no light film. The same warped sense of explicit raw violence and tension filled, absorbing dialogue that we've come to expect in Tarantino films is present. The aforementioned skull cracking scene is the biggest standout for me, reminiscent of the Mexican standoff bar scene in "Basterds"--by the way, this scene belongs to DiCaprio, fully. A few other scenes that stood out were the training montage, where Shultz teaches Django to become "the fastest gun in the South." And the final third of the film where Django comes back to Candyland to take care of some unfinished business.

Now, surely, we cannot talk Tarantino films without referencing the music and the editing. As only expected, we're treated to an unusual mix of anachronistic musical choices with vintage scores, which perfectly fit key scenes. We get  rap songs like Rick Ross's "100 Black Coffins," and the James Brown/2Pac mashup "Unchained" mixed with traditional spaghetti western scores and original compositions like "Ancora Qui" by Ennio Morricone and Elisa. It's quite a brilliant mix of fresh and existing music tracks--in fact this may be the first time I've seen a Tarantino film with original music. But all of it works brilliantly in the service of the film, it's universe, and it's overall tone. As far as editing is concerned, we do very much miss the work of late, frequent Tarantino collaborator Sally Menke. But the film's editor, Fred Raskin (known for his work on the Fast and Furious franchise), still does a great job of slapping the movie's scenes together with enough explosive kinetic energy, that it honor's Menke's high-energy spirit.

In a nearly 3 hour movie, I was engrossed and engaged the whole time. Tarantino just has a gift for capturing and holding your attention for the entire length of a film, regardless of how long, and Django is surely no exception. I realize this is shorter than my other reviews, but the truth is, I honestly had zero problems with this movie. And the only thing I really had to say is, even though it's not as brilliant as Tarantino's magnum opus ("Pulp Fiction") or as daring as "Inglorious Basterds," it's still great! So much so that this completely belongs in my top 3 of the year. It's Tarantino being Tarantino, and dear god, we never want that to change.

Overall Grade: A